When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they’ll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. OurPrivacy Noticeexplains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Read More

Related Articles

An excerpt reads: “I couldn’t believe I was looking at a... signed AC Milan shirt from the Istanbul final. That shirt represented to me and tens of thousands of Liverpudlians, one of the best nights of our lives and I was holding it and about to take it home.”

The Liverpool player and his dad were friends with Paul at the time and were unaware that he was involved in crime.

Read More

Related Articles

In 2007 Paul became one of the country’s most wanted men, and featured in a Crimestoppers ‘Costa Crook’ appeal. He spent five years on the run in Holland and Spain, trying to avoid arrest.

Just An Ordinary Decent Criminal tells the story of how selling drugs allowed a Liverpool FC obsessed Norris Green scally to travel the world, jetting off to Toronto, New York, Jamaica, Istanbul, Athens, Marbella and Amsterdam.

A big music fan and accomplished guitarists, Paul said he mixed with many of the big scouse bands of the day, such as The Zutons, Cast and The Coral.

European Cup Final and Liverpool's Luis Garcia, Steven Gerrard and Vladimir Smicer during the Champions Leage Final in Istanbul 2005 (Image: Liverpool Echo)

Paul recounts how he met up with the lads from Cast in Canada, spending time on the band’s tour bus. He watched the band play live at New York’s Mercury Lounge. After the show Paul and his pal found themselves hungover and hungry on Lexington Avenue, when a taxi driver pulled up and announced that he was from Marsh Lane in Bootle. The cabbie took the lads to a diner for breakfast and beer.

He also recalls the moment Paul and his mates ventured into a rougher part of Queens.

Read More

Related Articles

It reads: “We’ve ended up in, Queens New York, gang territory and volatile.

It wasn’t long before we’d managed to grab the attention of three black lads wearing vests, bandanas and baggy jeans. They came over and sucked their teeth at us, while looking us up and down. Kevin was too busy looking at the ensuing scuffle with the police to notice the attention we’d attracted. When he turned around and they were about three feet away from us.

Paul and his mates also enjoyed a sun soaked holiday in Jamaica, when they spent time at Bob Marley’s birthplace while ‘stoned’. The Liverpool lads also enjoyed a wild night out at an underground beach club. The Scousers were left speechless when they encountered two semi-naked women leading a man around on a choke chain.

Read More

Related Articles

Paul also had the cash to live out his love affair with Liverpool FC. He was in Istanbul the night Liverpool won the Champions League, and in Syntagma Square after the reds lost out to Milan in Athens two years later.

He also reveals that he was at both Heysel and Hillsborough and was keen to extend his sympathy to the relatives of all the fans who died at both stadium disasters.

Paul Walmsley at Burbo Bank,Blundelsands,a former Crimestoppers Most Wanted,who spent five years on the run. (Image: Liverpool Echo)

Paul’s book also provides a fascinating glimpse of Paul’s childhood in Norris Green, going to Clubmoor community school, boxing at Sparrow Hall and his time as free scoring winger for for East Villa.

He remembers watching Norris Green’s infamous joyriders roaring up and down the East Lancs Road in stolen Ford Capris in front of a braying crowd. And the day he was left unable to speak when he was introduced to his idol, Kenny Dalglish, while on ball boy duty at Liverpool.

Read More

Related Articles

Paul and his mates were all casuals who wore the latest Peter Storm coats, jeans and Adidas trainers from city store Wade Smith. Weekends were spent partying at city clubs such as The State and 051.

Paul Walmsley at Burbo Bank, Blundelsands,a former Crimestoppers Most Wanted, who spent five years on the run. (Image: Liverpool Echo)

At one point Paul moved into a plush apartment on the city’s waterfront, and he later bought a dream family home in leafy Blundellsands. The property was later seized by the authorities.

Paul, now a reformed character, recently met up with the ECHO when he emphasised just how stressful life as criminal was. His book captures the moment he realised his life as a crook was over, and that it was time to face justice and re-build his life.

After being released from prison Paul decided that he wanted to spend his life warning young people about the negative consequences of becoming involved in crime.

Paul Walmsley at Burbo Bank,Blundelsands,a former Crimestoppers Most Wanted,who spent five years on the run. (Image: Liverpool Echo)